DoD News

News Article

Focus Shifts to Identifying Victims at Pentagon Crash Site

By Rudi WilliamsAmerican Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3, 2001  The search for remains in the debris at the Sept. 11 airliner crash site at the Pentagon has ended. The FBI has stopped sifting through debris looking for evidence and remains, however, more than a third of the victims of the terrorist attack are still unaccounted for, according to Defense Department officials.

"The identification of the remains we have is a high priority, but we don't expect to find any more remains at the crash site," DoD spokesman Brian Whitman said.

At last count, 125 Pentagon military personnel and civilian workers were killed or remain unaccounted. One of the dead succumbed days later to injuries suffered in the attack. Another 64 persons, the passengers and crew aboard hijacked American Airlines Flight 77, died on impact. To date, 118 remains have been recovered and taken to Dover Air Force Base, Del., for identification.

To date, Dover has identified 93 victims, DoD officials noted.

On Oct. 2, DoD released the names of five more people confirmed dead in the terrorist attack:

Gerald Fisher, 57, an Army contractor from Potomac, Md.

Army Sgt. Maj. Larry L. Strickland, 52, from Edmond, Wash.

Army Sgt. Tamara C. Thurman, 25, from Brewton, Ala.

Army Spc. Chin Sun Pak, 24, from Lawton, Okla.

Jerry Moran, 39, a Navy contractor from Upper Marlboro, Md.

Tom Fontana, communications officer for the Pentagon renovation project, said the Marine Corps and Office of the Secretary of Defense moved about 40 workers back into Wedge 1 on Oct. 1. "We hope to have a bunch of folks moving back in on Nov. 1 and a bunch more on Jan. 1," he said.